About the Office and the United States Code

The Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives prepares and publishes the United States Code pursuant to section 285b of title 2 of the Code. The Code is a consolidation and codification by subject matter of the general and permanent laws of the United States.

The Code does not include regulations issued by executive branch agencies, decisions of the Federal courts, treaties, or laws enacted by State or local governments. Regulations issued by executive branch agencies are available in the Code of Federal Regulations. Proposed and recently adopted regulations may be found in the Federal Register.

Certain titles of the Code have been enacted into positive law, and pursuant to section 204 of title 1 of the Code, the text of those titles is legal evidence of the law contained in those titles. The other titles of the Code are prima facie evidence of the laws contained in those titles. The following titles of the Code have been enacted into positive law: 1, 3, 4, 5, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 17, 18, 23, 28, 31, 32, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 44, 46, and 49.

Titles 1 through 41 and the Table of Popular Names are based on Supplement II of the 2006 edition (January 5, 2009) of the Code. Titles 42 through 50 Appendix and Tables I-VI are based on Supplement I of the 2006 edition (January 8, 2008) of the Code. The Organic Laws are based on the 2006 edition (January 3, 2007) of the Code. Each section of the Code database contains a date in the top-right corner indicating that laws enacted as of that date and affecting that section are included in the text of that section. When a search is made for a specific section of the Code, as opposed to a search for certain words appearing in the Code, the hit list will include an "Update" item listing any amendments not already reflected in the text of that section.

The Classification Tables include Public Laws 110-181 to 111-140, approved February 16, 2010. The tables show where recently enacted laws will appear in the Code and which sections of the Code have been amended by those laws. They provide a separate method of identifying any amendments to a section not already reflected in the text of that section.

While every effort has been made to ensure that the Code database on the web site is accurate, those using it for legal research should verify their results against the printed version of the United States Code available through the Government Printing Office.